Comment: Have you heard the rumor that Nichelle Nichols started, that MLK personally told her to keep on playing the character "uhura" on startrek? I heard she started off saying she thought MLK would have liked her character - and over time that story changed to the mess its become. She's the .... only source of any such thing as far as I can tell.

She told that story when I saw her at Salt Lake Comic Con recently, and I had no reason to doubt it. Are they looking for someone else who had independently heard the discussion?

As an aside, if you have the opportunity to hear her speak, it is well worth it. It wasn't a flashy presentation like some, but it was much deeper than most. She talked about a lot of things, and Star Trek was only a small part of it.

I agree with the others, she's been extremely consistant in the story, from her reason for leaving (she was going to do a stage show) to why MLK asked her to stay (to continue being a becon for others to look to as to what African American's can accomplish).

I don't recall her ever saying that MLK 'would like' the character, but that he DID like the character, it was the opening line in the conversation (followed by [paraphrased], "Thank you, but unfortunately it ends after this season" "No, you can't!")

I don't know how the sender of this email wants you to verify the content of an anecdotal meeting between Nichelle and MLK, but as far as I know she's remained extremely consistent in the story.

The rumor is that although Nichelle Nichols now claims she actually met with MLK, and he encouraged her not to quit Star Trek, when she first started relating the MLK anecdote at Star Trek conventions back in the early 1970s, she told it as an imagined conversation between her and MLK and didn't claim she had actually met or spoken with him. So inquirers are looking for verification that the gist of her story changed significantly from its original form.